How to format a LinkedIn post so people read it

Format a LinkedIn post for a phone screen: short paragraphs of one to three sentences, a blank line between them, a plain list when you have steps or items, and no more than a word or two of fancy bold text. LinkedIn's composer has no built-in bold, italics or headings, so formatting comes down to line breaks, lists and restraint.

The rest of this guide covers each tool you have, what it costs, and a before and after example.

Line breaks and short paragraphs

Line breaks are the most useful formatting you have. Most people read the feed on a phone, where a column is narrow and a paragraph of six sentences becomes a block of fifteen lines. Readers skip blocks.

• Keep each paragraph to one idea, usually one to three sentences.
• Leave a blank line between paragraphs so the eye has somewhere to rest.
• Put a break after your first sentence. It gives the opening room and makes it easier to read in the feed.
• Do not break after every sentence. A post made of single lines separated by white space reads like a template and loses the connections between ideas.

One more thing to know: the blank lines count toward the 3,000 character limit and affect where the 'see more' fold falls. Too much white space near the top can push your second line below the fold.

Lists

When a post contains steps, options or several examples, a list is easier to scan than a paragraph. LinkedIn has no list formatting, so write it by hand.

• Numbers work for steps and ranked items: 1., 2., 3. at the start of each line.
• A simple hyphen or a plain dot character works for items with no order.
• Keep list items short and parallel. If each starts with a verb, they all should.
• Three to five items is a comfortable length. Past seven, consider whether it is two posts.
• Introduce the list with a line that says what it is, so the reader knows why to read it.

Why fancy bold and italic text causes problems

You have probably seen posts with bold or italic words, made with online 'text formatter' tools. Those tools do not add formatting. They swap your letters for lookalike characters from a Unicode block meant for mathematics. They look like bold letters, but to software they are different symbols.

• Screen readers may read them out letter by letter, or as their full technical names, or skip them. A reader who is blind or has low vision may hear nonsense where your key phrase should be.
• Search does not match them. A post with a bolded company or topic name will not show up when someone searches for that name, because the characters are not the same letters.
• Some devices and fonts show them as empty boxes or mismatched shapes.
• Copying the text into another app carries the odd characters with it.

If you use them at all, keep them to a short label of one or two words, such as a section marker, and never on a whole sentence, a name you want found in search, or anything important. Most posts read fine without any.

Emoji as bullets

Some people use emoji at the start of each list item instead of a dash or a number. It can help a list stand out on a busy screen, and a check mark or arrow is quick to read. It also has costs.

• Screen readers announce each emoji by name, so a list of ten items becomes ten repetitions of 'right arrow'.
• A different emoji on every line adds noise without adding meaning.
• In a professional field, a feed full of emoji can read as less serious than the content deserves.

If you use them, pick one and use it consistently, or use numbers and dashes and let the words do the work.

Mentions

To mention a person or company, type @ followed by their name and pick them from the list LinkedIn shows. The name becomes a link, and the person or page is usually notified.

• Mention people who are part of the story, such as a client who agreed to be named or a colleague who did the work.
• Ask before naming a client, especially with a number attached.
• Do not mention people to get their attention when they have nothing to do with the post. It reads as a request for reach, and they notice.
• Mentions work only if the name is picked from the list. Typing the name without selecting it leaves plain text.

Where links go

You can put a link in the post, in the first comment, or leave it out and write the useful part in full. Each has tradeoffs, and LinkedIn does not publish how links affect a post's reach. If you do include one in the post, put it on its own line near the end, after the text has made its case, so it does not push your opening down.

A before and after example

Before: one paragraph of eight sentences about how a design studio changed its proposal process, with the three changes buried in the middle, a bolded sentence made with a formatter, and five hashtags on the last line.

After: an opening line with the result, a line on why it matters, a short paragraph on the old process, a numbered list of the three changes with one line each, and a closing sentence on what to try first. No formatter bold, no wall of hashtags, the same facts. It takes about the same space and is much easier to read.

A formatting checklist

• No paragraph longer than three sentences.
• A blank line between paragraphs, not between every sentence.
• Lists for steps and options, with short, parallel items.
• No formatter bold or italic on names, keywords or whole sentences.
• Emoji used sparingly and consistently, or not at all.
• Mentions only for people who belong in the post.
• Links placed after the point is made, or left out.
• Checked on a phone before posting.

How GoodSocials handles this

GoodSocials drafts posts with line breaks where they belong and keeps bold to short labels, converting it to LinkedIn's lookalike bold only at the moment of publishing so the stored text stays readable and searchable. Hashtags are left out unless your format principle asks for them.

If you want a different layout, such as numbered lists instead of paragraphs, write it in a revise comment. The card is rewritten and your format principle is updated, so later posts follow the same layout.